Socket type electrical watt-hour meters are used to measure and indicate the amount of electrical power consumption in a residence, industry or business. Typically, a socket type watt-hour meter plugs into a meter socket using a blade-like stab or meter blade connector located on the watt-hour meter. The meter socket itself is mounted inside a meter base or a panel. A meter socket commonly has a spring loaded receptacle-like jaw to receive and contact the watt-hour meter blade insertion. The meter jaw and spring provide enough force to press meter blade and conduct electricity while maintaining a certain current load and a heat rise. One disadvantage of the current meter socket is that the spring bias force may exceed the industry standard limit for the force required to insert and extract the watt-hour meter. Another disadvantage of the current meter socket is that the spring does not provide consistent pressure over time for a reliable connection between the meter jaw and watt-hour meter blade.
The meter socket for a plug-in type watt-hour meter commonly uses “U” shaped one-piece or two piece jaw with return wrap receiving contacts. A disadvantage of the one-piece jaw, is that its shape limits the thickness of material used and more importantly, the one-piece jaw provides a long electrical current path by not directly contacting the meter blade and the bus bar. Similarly, there is a large amount of heat generated at the point of conduction in both the one piece and two piece jaws where such heat rise may cause meter malfunction if not properly dissipated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,297,021 (Dixon, et al.), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses exemplary embodiments comprising a system, which can comprise a bypass hub for an electrical meter. The bypass hub can comprise an electrically conductive blade comprising a first socket engageable end and a second socket engageable end. The electrically conductive blade can define a through-hole. The electrically conductive blade can be coupled to a shaft via at least one blade retainer.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,347,722 (Zhang, et al.), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a meter socket assembly comprising a meter jaw assembly and an extended bus bar for contact with a meter blade of a watt hour meter. The meter jaw assembly further comprises a meter jaw and a jaw spring guide that are mounted together by a fastening device to the extended bus bar. The extended bus bar comprises a chamfered terminal end and cutout portion to easily accept the meter blade. The jaw spring guide overlies the meter jaw and applies a bias force inward to urge the contact face of the meter jaw toward the extended bus bar closing any insertion space and guaranteeing tight contact with the meter blade. A meter socket guide snaps on to the bus bar to maintain the alignment of meter jaw with watt-hour meter blade.
Another disadvantage of the known meter socket is the difficulty in aligning both the one piece and the two piece jaws in both the vertical and horizontal direction with the meter blade.
Therefore there is a need for improvement in meter socket assemblies and in particular meter jaw assemblies.
This invention improves on the deficiencies of the prior art and provides an inventive lever bypass plug-in meter socket for electric watt-hour meter.